In many imaging system applications, it is desirable to detect objects in digital images. For example, face detection is used for security applications or for setting capture conditions on a digital camera to optimize image quality for the people in a captured digital image.
There are many prior art references that describe the detection of objects. However, the majority only use information from two-dimensional (2D) digital images. For example, a method of object detection utilizing a cell network is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,526,127.
With the development of ranging capture devices, it is very easy to get range information during the capture of a digital image. The range information can provide extra information that can be used to improve the detections of objects in the digital image. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0121094 teaches an object detection method focused on face detection that uses range information to increase the accuracy of detection. However, the face detection algorithm that is described makes many errors by either not detecting an actual face, or by detecting a false face.
A need exists for a method to robustly detect and segment objects and background in a digital image or video taking advantage of the range information.